Jasper Republican, Volume 1, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 December 1874 — Smothered in a Coffin. [ARTICLE]

Smothered in a Coffin.

The exceedingly narrow escape from being buried alive (and it was a case of smothering in a coffin) experienced by a young woman in Montreal, last week, ought perhaps to go far toward neutral* izing toe opposition which the cremationists are encountering. It appears that the lady was taken suddenly ill, and, after two.days’ sickness, was pronounced dead by the attending physician. Three days afterward the body was observed to be in a remarkable state of preservation, but the funeral was proceeded with. ■ When the procession arrived at toe cemetery toe coffin was removed to the Morgue in order to gratify the wishes of a bosom friend of the deceased, who had come a long distance to take a last farewell. The request was complied with, and the coffin-lid unscrewed, when, to the horror of all, toe corpse was found to be lying on its side, the bead twisted* round facing uppermost, toe grave clothes disarranged, while tbe left arm was drawn up as though to support the body, as if the unfortunate woman had been leaning on it in an ineffectual and terrible struggle for breath. The sight was heart-rending in the extreme, and the unfortunate husband of the deceased gave way to the wildest manifestations o#grief. Another gentleman, with his wife and her sister, who had been burying a child, happened to be present; the ladies were so overcome by what they saw as Jao become hysterical. They were speedily removed to a hotel, where restoratives were applied. It is supposed deceased had been lying in a trance, and was brought to life through the jolting of the hearse while on the rokd to the cemetery. The name of the victim is suppressed for manifest reasons, but there appears to be no reason for doubting toe truth of the report.— Chicago Tribune.